Samsung launches Galaxy S4 superphone

Samsung has launched its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, with plenty of features to pique mobile photographers' interest.

The new device is slightly smaller and at 7.9mm also thinner than its predecessor, but otherwise the design language is very similar to the S3. Despite the slightly smaller dimensions, the new model comes with a large 5-inch 1080p Full-HD Super-AMOLED screen (441ppi).

The device will be powered by a new 1.6 GHz Exynos 5 Octa processor which doubles the number of cores of the processors in other high-end smartphones or even Laptops/PCs. However, this super-powerful processor will not be be available in all versions of the device. Depending on the region some Galaxy S4's will feature a 1.9 GHz Qualcomm quad-core chip.

From a hardware point of view the most exciting news is a range of new sensors including a barometer, temperature and humidity sensors. There is also an IR transmitter to use the device as a remote control for most types of AV-equipment.

We'll deliver a hands-on with the new Galaxy S4 soon, until then, here's a look at what we learned from today's press event in Times Square:

New camera features

The Samsung Galaxy S4 was launched at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

With a 13MP sensor driving the main camera and 2MP front-facing camera, the imaging hardware is in line with other top smartphones recently released. However, on the software side of things a number of cool new features can be found:

Dual Camera: Video and still images can be recorded with the front and rear cameras simultaneously. With a tap you can insert a small version of the the front camera's image (typically this is video or still of yourself) into the main footage that is being recorded with the rear cam. In still image mode you can choose from a variation of insertion formats. The front image can be inserted in a heart-shape or distorted with a fish-eye effect, for example. The dual camera mode also works when video chatting: the person on the other end of the line can not only see yourself but also the scenery that is being recorded by the rear cam. Both users can make notes and draw on the screen during the video chat.

Eraser is another image mode that takes a number of frames of the same scene and can then automatically delete unwanted objects or persons in the background.

Drama Shot takes up to 100 frames within 4 seconds and then combines them to a 'motion collage.' This looks like an intriguing feature for capturing sports or other types of action in one still image.

Sound shot lets you record a sound snippet along with your images.

Story album automatically creates albums of your pictures based on the date and enviroment. You can then choose an album name and cover, and add notes to the pictures.

Other new features

Other, non-camera-related features include the following:

Airview: This feature allows you to get previews of certain types of content, for example a larger size thumbnail in the gallery app, just by hovering your finger over the screen. This is the same feature that we've seen before on the Galaxy Note II and 8.0. However, the Note requires the use of a stylus while only your fingers are needed to use Airview on the S4.

S-Voice drive: A new set of voice commands that allows you to control the device when using it as a GPS navigator. You can also send and receive calls and texts hands-free.

S Translator is a translation app that supports text-to-speech and speech-to-text. For example, you can type a question in your language, then get the device to speak it to a person in their language. Their reply will then be recorded, translated and put out as text by the phone. In the demo this looked like pretty powerful stuff. Currently the system supports the following languages:

English

French

German

Italian

Spanish

Chinese

Japanese

Korean

Brazilian Portuguese

You can also take pictures of written text, such as restaurant menus or any kind of signs, and then use the S Translator application.

Samsung Knox was first introduced at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona and now appears on a device for the first time. The system basically creates two profiles on your device, for personal and for business use, similar to what we've seen on the new Blackberry 10 devices. This gives your company control over the enterprise element of your device but doesn't give them access to your personal data and settings. The system is based on a security-enhanced version of Android.

S Health allows you to monitor your calorie consumption, heart rate, blood sugar level and sleeping patterns with the help of a range of accessories such as heart rate monitor and the so-called S-band wristband.

Adapt Display: the S4's display automatically adapts its brightness and contrast to the displayed content. The aim is to ensure the best possible viewing experience for text, movies, photos, web-browing etc, or anyother type of content you might be viewing on your phone.

New UI functions

The user-interface comes with a few interesting novelties too:

Air gesture allows you to navigate your device with gestures in front of your screen, without touching. This is useful if you've just eaten some greasy fingerfood or painted your nails as you can answer a call just with a wave of your hand. For those of us living in colder regions of the planet, the touch screen also works when you are wearing gloves.

Smart Pause automatically stops video replay if you are looking away from the screen and resumes when your eyes are back on the video.

Smart Scroll: When browsing web pages you can slightly tilt the device up or down to scroll the pages.

To power this abundance of features the Galaxy S4 comes with a large removable 2600MAh battery. It will be available in 3G or 4G LTE versions through 327 operators in 155 countries, starting at the end of April.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Headline features:

Android 4.2.2

5-inch 1080p (441ppi) Super-Amoled screen

7.9mm thin

13MP rear and 2MP front cameras

2GB RAM

16/32/64 GB storage versions, Micro-SD card support up to 64 GB

130g

4G LTE 100Mbs down, 50Mps up

Barometer, pemperature and humidity sensors

2600MAh battery, removable

Looking at the specs and features listed above, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is, as expected, a true high-end device that comes with a range of innovations we're eager to test and try out. We'll post our hands-on article shortly.

be patient,... as soon as memory speed and processors will be able to combine multiple quick shoots into one, the needed megapixels on a sensor will drop down and we will have incredibly detailed pictures al low light, may be also with cheap lens, if their distorsion will be compensated by a smart algorhythm ;)

I read all comments here so far and it seems it's about the business ethics and reliability of Apple vs Samsung vs HTC, with Google thrown in for good measure. DPReview kicked off this thing with features and functions heavy on the cam side -- but the crowd here is going in other directions.

I recently purchased minutes just so that I can make calls over WiFi using Skype on Android (HD Kindle). The directory is not very flexible but the quality is surprisingly good. I will not be able to make calls at 80mph (unless the train/tram/bus has good quality WIFI). Surprise, but I am really less interested in phones. My girlfriend got Motorola Defy Mini (very happy, she says), but I am interested in a cheap per-minute phone even if I cannot make calls when stuck in traffic.

Smart pause is creepy. The only way that works is if the front facing camera is always leering at you, using facial recognition to know when you're not facing the screen. Who knows what privacy-averse Google is doing with that video stream. No thanks.

HTC Phones do have their charms, and I really do like the build quality of the HTC One S (which I have).

The downside of HTC is that like Apple they cripple their phones with no microSD and measly storage capacities like 16GB (or 32 if you are lucky).

Also that cheap build quality you complain about Samsung has an advantage. Heavy metal phones tend to self destruct when dropped where plasticy phone bounce. You can by a huge case to protect your beautiful metal and glass phone, but then you see the same plasticy look as you would with a Samsung or nexus.

Will it still feel like a cheap plastic piece of junk?- I expect so.I was gobsmacked when I first picked up an S3 after all the hype. Perhaps the consumers of today have no need for build quality and things of a tactile nature.Happy with my decision to go for an HTC One, although had the Xperia Z had a more ergonomic feel to it I would probably have plumped for that, very solid.

This matters? It's a sheet of glass on the front and whatever-case-you-choose-to-purchase on the back. This is the same for all of them.

My safety glasses are plastic and can survive a direct impact from the pointed end of a slag hammer against an anvil. Aluminum-magnesium would be penetrated and cracked from the same impact. Point being, not all plastic is garbage, some of it (polycarbonate in this case) is tough as hell.

If you want a phone that's big enough that you never forget you're carrying your phone, and want to call that "build quality", there's plenty of options out there for you.

**Most** people want a phone that's light enough that they forget that they're even carrying it, which is one of the reasons why the galaxy 3 sold so well. Something that's so thin you don't even notice in your pocket.

Ljfinger we are talked about the S3 not your safety glasses. There are lots of types of plastic and when tested in drop test the S3 failed and the iPhone 5 survived and still worked. The S3 and probably the S4 are made of a quite cheap plastic.

Enough with the racism and prejudice already. My Galaxy Note N7000 is about 18 months old and as new, my original Galaxy S now works as a upnp music streamer so I can push music to my hifi over wireless with Bubble UPNP; you know, like Apple Airplay but much cheaper. The Galaxy S is also great condition. And unlike many other options, with Android you can usually flash a new firmware to keep your device up to date after the manufacturer eventually disowns it.

I just bought a Samsung Note 2 and my son inherited my S3. The Note doesn't seem so huge after a few days use. I really like more real estate on the screen. I am sure the S4 will be an awesome addition to the lineup.

So all of this camera "innovation" -- are manual controls of the camera one of them? I use iphone 5 and havent used android since my Droid X, so unsire if they let you actually control SS and aperture, ISO now...

The HTC One kills it :"I had the HTC One with me during my hands on time, and the difference is like night and day. For starters, the One is noticeably faster in every context. When flicking between screens, opening apps, and taking photos there was clear lag on the Galaxy S IV, whereas everything was almost instantaneous on the One. To be fair, this wasn't the final production version of the S IV, and who knows which processor was in the model I had. There's a chance it'll be faster at launch.

But even purely from a design perspective, the One absolutely crushes the S IV. When you pick up the One, you feel like you're holding something amazing, both in the build and the screen. When you pick up the S IV, you feel like you're holding an S III with a few extra bells and whistles."

Whatever the whinging, cynicism, the boring Apple vs Samsung who did what first moan-in i.e the usual trademark DP forum comments, one thing is for sure this phone is going to fly off the shelves. I’m pretty impartial, but doesn’t it make the Iphone5 look a bit dull and old hat - it certainly trashes my ‘old’ HTC One X for apparent functionality. I can’t see HTC keeping up, but Apple I would have though needs to smell the coffee.

I'm totally happy with my One X (or I will be if '3' have repaired the BlueTooth function which failed. Its a great handset, and an ok camera for emergencies. Normally I have NEX5N with me, obviously that is a superb carry-round camera.

Looks like it offers ome nice novelties, which could happen to be useful once or twice in a while...Mostly at the beginning of the device's life, probably, before the novelty effect wanes out and everybody starts doing the same thing.

Can be useful for quick snapshots, when you want to capture a place or atmosphere just to look at it again in some years' time.I like to do that, not that I consider those snaps as "photography", though.

No bloatwear with iPhone. Apple fought hard to protect the consumers from all that crap. Android and Samsung are just bunch of thieves they copied everything apple did into a cheap plastic shell. Apple does have a screen issue. But that's because they tried so hard not to fragment their screen sizes. As a mobile developer dealing with android is a pain. You have to design for so many sizes. Where as apple has tried to keep the ratio consistent and at least the width.

"Apple fought hard to protect consumers" That's the most incredible statement I've seen in a long time. The company has made $630,000,000,000 by overcharging its customers. As for theft, the very name of the company was stolen.

Apple are playing a fools game - sue your main hardware component supplier to the tune of billions. Then folks start to wonder why there aren't so many hardware innovations in Apple's next product.Apple are as guilty as Samsung in terms of innovating from others ideas. The question is should we stifle innovations so that one company can sell what is not necessarily the best possible product at really over inflated prices?

Nobody are forcing anyone to buy an iPhone, those who do do so willingly - there is not "overcharging" any more than e.g. Canon "overcharging" for their lenses because third-party equivalents are cheaper.

And the name was not "stolen", Apple is a common English name. Just because there was a record company using the same name... well, just pick a more unique word like Nike did.

Apple is a trademark. Apple Corps (the Beatles' Company) has sued Apple successfully on several occasions both for using their TM and for attempting to put Beatles music on the appallingly poor iTunes shambles. Apple has subsequently bullied Apple Corps into submission.Thankfully the cracks are showing. Hopefully, the evil empire will go the same way as IBM.

@gsum: That easily deserves the title for the most amount of unresearched Internet blab all crap anti apple hate talk we came across today. Really? Overcharging customers? Stealing the company name (settlement on that existed forever)? Is life really that sad that you have to jump on a thread where an ugly Samsung phone is introduced and try to argue with people on a competitor? Just don't buy it, go out, and make a better product.

Like it or not is IS the most advanced smart phone on earth! I want to play with it before giving up my iPhone. One thing Apple better be listening to is that we want the option of a larger screened iPhone. The small long screen is not cutting it.

Why not? The ever increasing size of phone screens means they become increasingly cumbersome to carry no matter how thin they become. If you just want a phone with some smart features the smaller Apple's are far more convenient for carrying around as a phone. If you want a bigger screen I don't see the point of 5 inch screens and yo may as well go the whole hog and stick a (much cheaper) 7 inch tablet in the briefcase.

Sounds like the Apple route; you release a new machine a few months after the old one which is more-or-less similar apart from some 'minor differences' like being twice as powerful, then people complain that it isn't a proper update.

Lar's the faster processor isnt really needed, The S3's is plenty for Anything "right now" and the distant future. The screen may be higher res, but is anyone really going to notice? Your not going to hold the screen 4 inches away from your face. The way faster processor, in real life is it really going to be noticeable(maybe the gpu)? Now the upgrade to ddr3 may be noticeable in real life. I mean SOON these will be able to replace a PC, but the proper software isnt there yet. JB isnt even optimized for quadcore/octacore processors.Phones are growing up faster then the software can keep up. Its a nice phone, I have my galaxy nexus and an upgrade soon, waiting. I dont think i would purchase this. I enjoy my on screen buttons. JB was made FOR on screen buttons. i dont understand the need for hardware buttons any longer.Anywho. its nice, just not all that big of a deal. If they would have included an S pen with a wacom processor. THEN I personally would have been VERY VERY interested

Unlikely, Android is very bloatware prone and Apple has the better touch screen patents. And still a better GUI.

It's possible that the Firefox OS, if it can run on one of these fast Samsung phones, will in fact really challenge Apple the way the FireFox browser made a laughing stock out of IE, Opera, Safari, etc.

I am not sure what you mean by "bloatware-prone". If there's bloatware on your phone it's the carriers fault and there's ways to get rid of it. Have you used a recent generation Android phone? Probably not, cause otherwise you wouldn't worry about performance at all. These things are super-responsive.

@The A-Team: I'm pretty sure someone have said the reverse of what you said--they've switched to Samsung because they doubted the iPhone's reliability. It's electronics in general. There's always a few cr@ppy ones out of a thousand good ones that ship.

One thing I don't get is why this Samsung vs. Apple thing drive some people to the edge. People like Digitall are so full of hate the first thing it comes to mind is killing Apple. Nevermind the fact Samsung is not even half the Andorid market and Google calling the shot on anything Android. There are also other players like Nokia/Microsoft & BlackBerry. But no, the first thing that pops to his mind is killing Apple. Weird.

I think all the OEMs are stepping up their game. Apple, HTC and Nokia got my vote for best overall while Samsung, SONY and LG all have strong showing.

Which version of Android does it run? (I assume it's Android 4.1, but this kind of thing is important, and has Android made limiting background processes easier with 4.1 than with 4.0? Fewer unnecessary background processes is a feature that makes the iPhone experience usually better than the Android experience.)

The Camera: Then of course shooting raw would improve the camera more than a higher mega pixel count. Samsung should really do an 8MP camera that shoots raw; DNG shouldn't be too hard. Since, unlike the iPhone, this Samsung phone has a flash card slot, storage space is not problem. If Samsung really cared, they'd also include raw extraction software that runs well on the phone itself.

And yes fewer MPs helps with lowlight higher sensitivity settings, as does raw. So I don't need to read the claims that the fewer MPs thing is a myth; it's not.

Howard WHAT are you talking about? That is easy as pie on my SGS2 with Gingerbread 2.3.4!!! Developer options? Resetting? Never come across any of that. Maybe you're referring to custom ROMs...

Mate sounds like you have the Apple logo well and truly imprinted on your forehead. When you get a chance, have a play with the SGS4, HTC One, or even better the incoming Sony Experia Z, which is waterproof.

You might not want to believe it, but Phil Schiller is steering Apple right towards the cliff. Shares down 30%, suppliers in touble, etc. Blackberry just announced a 1 MILLION unit sale to a single vendor. They have another 3-4 new handsets to be released after the Z10 and X10 before the iPhone 6 gets here. Nokia is (slowly) gaining momentum with Windows Phone 8.

Blackberry has No.1 security, and Samsung just released their similar "Knox" enterprise version of Android.

As I wrote elsewhere, one of the problems is that Android 4 doesn't say which background processes one is choosing to limit. One simply selects say 3, and then the machine runs faster and remains faster until restart. It's not like msconfig on a Windows computer.

chillgreg reality is though that both the iPhone 5 and the iPhone4s individually have been out selling the S3. Plus Apple controls over 70% of all smartphone profit worldwide. Samsung do make a profit on their smartphones but nowhere near as much individually per unit as Apple. They are having to buy their way into the market just as they have with other products in the past. Also remember Samsung are using cheap plastic casings where Apple use metal which cost quite a lot more.

well, it's the carriers who usually put the bloatware on the devices. So if you buy an unlocked version this should not be a problem. Otherwise you'll have to check with your carrier. But in any case this thing is so much more powerful than most current phones, I really would not be worried about processor performance.

@Lars RehmI think HowaboutRAW is talking about the vender UI that's put on top of the vanilla UI that's slowing the SOC down.

I also have to mention that it is not actually an octa core SOC but rather a 4+4 core SOC so speed should be similar to HTC One, SONY Z, LG Optimus G Pro and only marginally faster than top of the line smartphones (But much faster than the current dual core US version Galaxy S III).

@chillgregPlease let me know what you contributed to this discussion besides name calling. Thanks.

I first discovered this hidden background process limiting feature on a Samsung Android 4 tablet, so the only extra processes were things that Samsung had installed, and I couldn't get rid of them without rooting the tablet.

I've since looked for the limit feature on the Android 4 Samsung Galaxy IIIs phone, and yes it was there on the ATT variation. I'm sure setting the limit lower turned off some of the ATT bloatware, but the point is that this is not a simple process with Android 4, doesn't appear to exist in Android 3, though was included in Android 2. Android/Google could learn a thing or two from Apple there.

And Apple would be wise to include a card slot and allow one to download files to iPhones that don't have the software to immediately open those files.